GLUE - KATE MARTIN

CHAPTER FOUR

Violetta
October 15th, 2023

One thing I've learned in my two weeks on the job so far is that the team will do whatever they can to make me feel accepted. I've never been treated as nicely as I have been by all of them in my entire life, and that's counting my past relationship of three years and my long-term friendship with Kayla. No fault to her though; we've just gotten past the phase of being overly sweet to one another all the time.

To celebrate their win today, Caitlin and Kate decided to host a movie night at their apartment; they even so nicely extended the invitation to Kayla, who accepted almost immediately. I'm a little scared of how fast she said yes, but I'm even more afraid that she may be plotting.

She's made some questionable comments about a specific someone on the team, that specific someone being Caitlin. Lord knows I already can't handle either one of them alone, so them together would probably kill me.

"So, what kind of movie are we feeling tonight?" Caitlin asks while carrying two bowls of popcorn into the living room. Kate walks behind her carrying two as well.

Caitlin hands a bowl to AJ and Molly and keeps the second one for her and Kayla.

"What about a scary movie?" Kate suggests handing a bowl to Jada and Gabbie.

"No." Kayla whines from the floor.

"Kayla hates scary movies." I inform Kate.

"Well, thats lame." Kate huffs, sitting down next to me.

"Hey!" Kayla sits up from the floor. "It's not my fault Violetta and AJ would always make me watch them all the time." My body damn near screenshots at the mention of AJ's name, which Kayla notices and instantly shuts up. "Oh shit, I'm sorry."

"Are you cheating on me?" Molly jokingly says to her AJ, the rest of the group snapping their heads towards them. "Ha, I'm just kidding." She laughs awkwardly, turning her attention to the popcorn bowl in her lap.

"Who's AJ?" Caitlin asks, also sitting up from the floor.

I sit there in silence before booking it for the bathroom. I did not want any of them to find out about AJ, at least not this damn early. I rush in quickly, shutting the door behind me.

Why is this so humiliating?

A few moments pass, and I hear a soft knock on the door: "Violetta, it's Kate. Are you okay?" I don't respond, and she knocks again. "I'm going to come in." The door opens and shuts, and I feel Kate's presence behind me. "What's wrong? Who's AJ?"

I mutter out a quick "nothing" in response. For some reason, I'm embarrassed hearing AJ's name come out of Kate's mouth. I take a deep breath, trying to keep the emotions I'm feeling under wraps.

"She's just someone I don't really like talking about."

I've been doing so well with not feeling anything when it came to this, so I'm unsure of why it's happening right now.

I feel Kate's hand land on my shoulder. "We don't have to talk about it." I nod my head, keeping my eyes on the counter in front of me. "Violetta." She uses the hand on my shoulder to turn me around.

I bring my hands to my face to cover the fact that I've now started crying. "I'm sorry, this is so embarrassing."

"It's not embarrassing at all." She places her hands on top of mine and moves them away from my face.

I instinctively drop my head down. "Kate, please. I really don't want you to see me cry."

"Why not?"

"I'm an ugly crier."

"Nothing about you could ever be ugly." Kate comforts me. I turn my head back to look at her, and she grimaces. "Oh, maybe I was wrong." I start to move away from her, and she grabs my arm. "I'm kidding, Vi, I'm kidding."

She wraps her arms around my shoulders, pulling me in for a hug. How Kate and I managed to become so close so fast is still a mystery to me. I sigh, letting my head fall onto her chest. She truly does make everything so much better. The more time that passes by, I can feel her heart slowing down. At this point, I don't even know how long we've been hugging, and if I'm being completely honest, I'm not sure I want to let go.

"If I ever see this AJ, I'll make sure to beat his ass."

I laugh at the entirety of that sentence. "You would not beat her ass, Kate. You could never beat anyone's ass."

She falls silent, and I feel her heartbeat suddenly start to speed up. "Did you say her?" She questions. "So, you're-"

"Gay? Yes, Kate, I'm gay." I feel her body stiffen, and I furrow my eyebrows. "Kate?" I ask, lifting my head off of her chest as she quickly unwraps her arms from around me. Is this bitch homophobic?

Finally, she clears her throat. "I never would've guessed."

"You're saying I look straight?" I gasp.

"Well, no, but I mean—" She stops for a second to look me up and down. "Well, yeah, kind of."

I smack her arm, gasping again. "That is so hurtful, you don't even understand."

"It's not a bad thing,' she shrugs. "I mean, I don't look that gay either."

I blankly stare at her. She's got to be joking. "Are you serious, Kate? You're the personification of gay."

She smiles, taking what I said as a compliment. "Yeah, I kind of am, am aren't I. I roll my eyes, and she laughs. "You're just jealous."

Suddenly a knock interrupts our banter. "Hey guys, we found a movie, so you can join us whenever you're done doing whatever you're doing in there." The insinuating tone is all I need to decipher that it's Caitlin at the door.

I swing it open, giving her a dirty look. "Kate was just being a good friend to me. You wouldn't know what that's like." I say, poking her directly in the forehead.

"Oh yeah?" She challenges me, pulling me into a light chokehold and giving me a noogie.

"Ugh, stop it!" I shout, and she lets go, walking away with that familiar childish grin on her face. I can't help but smile back. Love to hate her, hate to love her.

"I hate you!" I call out behind her as she's walking back to the living room.

"No, you don't!" She shouts back.